The University of California, Berkeley Foundation (UCBF) has been dedicated to supporting UC Berkeley’s core endeavors — teaching, research, and public service — since 1948.

In our current era, both state and private support are necessary. Today, the state provides only approximately 31 % of the budget. As state support has declined, private support has grown. In 1980, when the state still provided more than half of the budget, the campus raised a modest $27 million. In 1985, Cal embarked on its first capital campaign, which was called the “Keeping the Promise” Campaign. The Campaign raised $469 million—at that time, a record for a public university.

In 2000, the campus completed a second campaign with unprecedented success. The “Campaign for the New Century” had a goal of $1.1 billion. When this second campaign was launched publicly in 1996, it was the most ambitious campaign undertaken by a university without a medical school. At its close on December 31, 2000, Cal had raised $1.44 billion.

On September 19, 2008, the campus launched “The Campaign for Berkeley.” The Campaign’s objectives and goals reflect a combination of overarching campus wide priorities—faculty support, graduate fellowships, undergraduate scholarships—and a wide array of programmatic priorities established by 29 schools, colleges and programs. The Campaign will seek to raise more than $3 billion by June 30, 2013, including substantial new endowment funding to preserve Berkeley’s promise for future generations.